Emi's birth story

Dear Emi Grace,

Welcome to the world. Your arrival was not exactly as I envisioned it, but you are here and safe and healthy, and know that you are always loved. Your name, Emi, is a Japanese name that means "Blessed with Beauty", and when we saw you we knew that this was your name. Your middle name, Grace, was chosen because it starts with the letter G - in remembrance of very important people in your dad's life: his grandfather George and his uncle Gary.

Your guess date was July 25, and that day came and went and I figured that you just weren't ready to join us yet. Believe me, I did everything I could to try to urge you to come, such as eating pineapple, eating spicy foods, walking, going up and down stairs, and lots of other things. Then a week later at a doctor's appt, they said that your fluids were low and that you needed to come out. This took us by surprise, because we really wanted you to tell us when you were ready - but we went home, packed bags and headed to the hospital.

We checked into the hospital at 7:30pm on Friday, July 31. The nurses were very nice, and they worked with us in answering our questions and doing things as slowly as possible to give us time to decide how we wanted to proceed. They let me eat dinner (McD's cheeseburgers, of course), and even agreed to measure your fluids again, which were still low but on the way up. After a lot of thinking and discussing things, your dad and I decided it was best to go ahead and proceed with the induction. They started me on Cervidil at midnight, and said that I would have this for 12 hours, and then they would most likely start Pitocin at noon on Saturday. I was 1 cm dilated. That night, your dad and I watched most of a movie called "Knowing", and as the movie was playing I could feel some contractions starting, but they were mild and I was able to get about 4 hours of sleep once the movie was over.

On Saturday morning, your dad and I woke up early, and I was still having those mild contractions, which were coming anywhere between 3-6 minutes apart. At about 8am, the doctor came in to check on me, and said that I was fully effaced and about 3cm. They said that the Cervidil worked, and that I didn't need to stay on it until noon. She said the next best thing to do was to break my water, and that it might help bring on the natural labor that we really wanted. So we agreed, and very soon after that I started feeling the contractions start to increase in intensity. They brought in some breakfast. They said as long as the contractions continued and got more regular, there was no need to start Pitocin (which was wonderful news!).

Things were moving along very slowly, and the contractions continued to get stronger and more intense. By that afternoon, I needed to start listening to my HypnoBabies scripts to get me through them. I put my earphones in, put the script on repeat, and tried to relax and work through each contraction. They were coming about every 3 minutes, and Scott said I would look like I was completely asleep at times listening to my scripts, and he would watch the monitor and see that I would have 3-4 contractions like that. There were times that I would start to come out of hypnosis (which is really just a deep state of relaxation for me), but your dad was able to calm me down and get me to relax again. Your dad was an amazing support partner. He made sure that I drank a lot of water, got out of bed often, and kept me as comfortable as possible. I do remember him eating 2 hospital meals though - the nurses brought in lunch and dinner, and said that I couldn't eat it, but that he could help himself.

Your Grandma and Grandpa Y came to visit us at the hospital. By this time, I had no idea what time it was, but I think it was right before dinner time. They didn't stay too long because my contractions were starting to get more and more intense, and they wanted to let us concentrate through them. I think it might have been around 4pm that the nurses checked me and I was 5 cm dilated. What a long day, and not much progress! They came back around 8pm to check again, and I was only 6cm. The contractions started to get more and more intense, and at about 8:30 (I think), I started to feel uncomfortable and a little "pushy". Given that things were moving so slow, I was pretty sure that I only had to go to the bathroom, but your dad asked the nurses to check me again to make sure. I was so convinced that I would still only be 6cm, that I started to think about an epidural. The nurses didn't want to check me, since my water had been broken and they just checked 20 minutes prior, but after some convincing they checked and said that I was fully dilated and could start pushing. So those feelings were a sign that you were ready to start making your way into the world! It was so funny, I remember seeing your dad kick things into high gear - he changed out of his flip flops, took off his sweatshirt and got ready for some action.

I didn't really want to push like you see on TV - lying on your back, with your knees up - so the nurses said they would let me push on my own for a while and come back and check in on me. We did this for about 4 hours, and you just weren't making much progress. Plus, my contractions were starting to die down and get further apart. The nurses came in around 1:30am on Sunday, and said that since things weren't really progressing, they wanted to try to have me push with their coaching. It was uncomfortable to be flat on my back, so they let me stay in a somewhat seated position, and they had me push while they counted. We did this for about 2 hours, and I didn't feel you coming down any further and my contractions were now about 6 minutes apart. The decided to call the doctor, and she came in around 3am. She recommended I lay down flat on my back for the next push, to see how far you were coming during the contractions. Then we talked about our options - either start Pitocin to kick up the contractions again (which would take a half hour or so to kick in), and I asked if a vaccuum was an option. She said it was, and that she thought you were far down enough for her to get. I was a little hesitant to resort to a vaccuum, but I remember wanting you in this world now. If you were as tired as I was, I'm sure you were ready, too. The doctor didn't think it would be a problem, but she did say I had to push really hard because she only had 3 tries with a vaccuum. With the next contraction (which were now 7 minutes apart), I pushed really hard and you crowned. We had to wait 7 minutes, then with the next contraction you were born. You came out crying, and I remember the doctor saying she would not clamp the cord until it stopped beating, but you wouldn't reach my chest yet, so listened to you cry and Scott said you were beautiful and had a full head of hair. Once the cord was clamped and cut, they put you on my chest (where you decided to take your first poop, right on me). You were still crying, but when we talked to you, I think you recognized us and started to calm down. After such a long day, this part of the early morning is kind of a blur. I remember you looking at us with wide eyes, and Scott taking some pictures. After what felt like an hour of us talking to you and the doctor stitching me up (I remember asking her how many stitches since these were my first stitches ever, and she said "too many to count"), they weighed you and measured you and then we tried to get you to eat a little bit. You quieted right down, and all of us decided it was time to take a nap. The nurse, Minda, offered to give you a bath, and she brought you right back to my arms when she was done and we slept for a few hours cuddled together in bed.

You entered the world on Sunday, August 2nd at 3:37am, weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz., and measuring 19.5 inches. We loved you before you joined us, and we love you even more now that you are in our arms. I can't wait to see how our life together unfolds.

Love, your mom and dad